


Baby, It's...

by akaparalian



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Banter, Ed in uniform, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9149425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akaparalian/pseuds/akaparalian
Summary: "The last town they had passed through had been some 5 miles ago, long before the storm got too thick for safe driving, and Roy could practically see that thought working its way through Ed’s head before he reluctantly mumbled something that probably wasn’t, but should have been, 'You’re absolutely correct, Roy, and I apologize for beating on the door like a madman.'"Or, ( two alchemists + one winter storm ) x a cabin in the wilderness - an appropriate number of beds = cuddling up together on a cold winter's night.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raineynight713](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raineynight713/gifts).



> And you thought you'd never use algebra. 
> 
> Sorry this is coming out so late! The holiday season ended up being a lot more stressful for me than I was anticipating, but I'm squeaking in on the deadline, so I guess it all worked out in the end. ;__; Raineynight713, I hope you like it! <3
> 
> Quick note: this is several years post-canon, with Ed in roughly his mid-twenties, but retaining his automail and alchemy, and having stayed in the military under Roy's command.

_Thwack._ “This is _your_ fault, you know.”

Roy pinched the bridge of his nose and barely managed to hold back a sigh. “Fullmetal, I’m not going to risk burning the house down and both of us freezing to death over --”

_Thwack._ “Well if you had done what I suggested in the _first_ place instead of waiting until every damn thing was frozen over, then maybe you wouldn’t _have_ to risk burning the house down --”

“ _I’m_ sorry, forgive me, I should have risked burning _the entire forest_ down instead--”

_Thwack_. “-- and anyway, a goddamn _General_ should have enough control of his one-trick-pony move to not be _worried_ about burning anything down unless he wants to, but I guess that’s just asking _too much_ of you --” 

Roy grit his teeth and snarled, “Fullmetal, would you _quit_ that --”

_Thwack._

“Fullmetal, I’m serious.”

_Thwack._

“Fullmetal.”

_Thwack. Thwack. Thwack._

_“Edward!”_

There was one last sullen _thwack_ as Ed swung a final time at the ice crusting the edge of the door, but silence finally, _finally_ fell over the cabin as he whipped around to meet Roy with a face that almost made Roy wish he’d just let him keep hitting the door, if only so that he didn’t try to hit Roy instead.

Thankfully, though, Ed transmuted his arm from a blade back to normal instead of using it to commit murder, and only shot Roy a glare before stomping over to slump to the ground next to the gently crackling fireplace. Roy glanced at the empty chair beside him, clustered around the wobbly little table, but another look at Ed’s face more than convinced him that they could both do with some space.

This was what they got for trying to travel to Briggs in the winter, he supposed. To be fair, between the two of them, they’d been doing an excellent job of handling the journey, if he did say so himself. There wasn’t much anyone could do about a storm like this, though; as the wind rattled the windows, Roy couldn’t help but point out, “No amount of fire could get us safely back to town in this mess.”

The last town they had passed through had been some 5 miles ago, long before the storm got too thick for safe driving, and Roy could practically see that thought working its way through Ed’s head before he reluctantly mumbled something that probably wasn’t, but should have been, “You’re absolutely correct, Roy, and I apologize for beating on the door like a madman.” After all, this wasn’t even _their_ cabin; it was an old, rickety thing, with harsh wind creeping in through cracks in the walls, and on top of that now Roy was probably going to have to leave a note about how to contact the military to repair whatever damage Ed had done to the doorframe, and when that bill came in Riza was going to _kill him_. Kill both of them, likely. 

But no sense worrying about that now. After all, the storm could still kill them first. Even with a fire going, the cabin -- more of a one-room shack than anything -- was frigid, and this coming from the person _without_ metal permanently attached to his body. Northern automail or no, surely it couldn’t be comfortable in this weather.

Sure enough, Ed’s shivering was visible from all the way across the room, which, if anyone asked, was definitely Roy’s excuse for sighing and saying, “Come here before you catch your death.”

“What?” Ed shot back, but he was already eyeing the blanket Roy stooped to pull out of his bag. “No, you come _here_ , bastard. Bring the chairs over by the fire.”

Fair enough. The chairs made an awful screech as he dragged both across the floor at once, with the blanket thrown over his shoulders, but as soon as he’d arranged them close together (and close to the fire), he began to feel just a bit less miserable about this whole situation. The fireplace wasn’t very large, and the fire was struggling along a little bit, but it was better than nothing, and by the time Roy had the blanket draped across both their laps, he was willing to pretend that they were here by choice, and not trapped by the elements. 

Ed, though, apparently had other ideas. “So are you going to wait until spring melts our way out?” he asked sourly, and Roy manfully suppressed a sigh. 

“We can have a look in the morning,” he replied, shifting slightly so that the blanket covered more of his legs. “But honestly, Edward, you’re not sixteen anymore. There’s no need to kill yourself in a blizzard just to prove that you can. We’ll wait it out, and I’m sure General Armstrong will understand the delay in our arrival.”

“If she calls me weak, it’s your fault, and I’m telling her so,” Ed muttered, but he also leaned a bit closer to the fire, so Roy decided to call it a draw, and settled in for a very long night.

\---

Longer even than he’d thought, apparently.

“No. No way. You’re sleeping on the floor,” Ed threatened, pointing with his flesh arm very dramatically towards the hearth. Roy took one look at the brick, and his back twinged.

“It’s not _that_ small of a bed,” Roy argued, putting his hands on his hips. “What, you’re telling me you and Al never had to bunk up together?”

“That’s _different!_ ” Ed all but shrieked, and honestly, it was hard sometimes to believe that he’d aged at all. Twenty-three year old Edward Elric and sixteen year old Edward Elric had quite the same talent for volume, apparently. “Al is my _brother_ , you prick, not my --”

“Your commanding officer, whom you wouldn’t dare make sleep on the cold, hard floor?” Roy completed for him, tone saccharine, and Edward _fumed,_ his automail hand balling into a fist. 

“I’ll show _you_ cold and hard, you half-rate stuffed-shirt --”

“Fullmetal, really, it’s just for one night,” Roy broke in, choosing to ignore any further slights against his character. Mentally, he added, _At least, I hope so._ For the time being, ignoring the possibility that the storm might go on for quite some time was the only way for him to stay sane. “You’re turning it into a much bigger fuss than it really is.”

“Easy for you to say,” Edward huffed. Roy managed to keep from outright throwing his hands up in dismay, but it was a close thing.

“What does that even _mean_? _I’m_ not the sh--”

“If you say ‘the short one,’ forget the floor, I’m making you sleep outside, so help me God.”

“You’re not usually the religious type,” Roy muttered, but he also threw his hands up in surrender. “Look, it’s getting late, and this is ridiculous. We’ll share the bed, and in the morning I’m sure this storm will be over and we’ll be able to get back on the road.” He resisted the rather ridiculous urge to knock wood.

For a moment, he was worried that Edward _still_ wouldn’t acquiesce, but after gritting his teeth he snapped “Fine,” and Roy breathed a small sigh of relief. At least neither one of them would have to worry about freezing to death overnight.

Roy had to admit, though, that the bed _was_ a touch on the smaller side. It was nothing unreasonable -- it was certainly a double bed -- and Ed’s size, whether or not he wanted to admit it, was going to make fitting both of them in quite a bit easier. Roy certainly wouldn’t have wanted to share a bed this size with Havoc or Alphonse, for example, but Edward… Well. It might get slightly cramped, but they’d survive.

He removed his jacket and dress pants quickly, beyond glad they’d brought some of their bags in so he wouldn’t have to worry about sleeping in his uniform. He was, he told himself, only perfunctorily aware of Edward removing his own uniform at an even faster rate; he wasn’t paying it any particular mind, and there certainly wasn’t a small, electric thrum in his stomach at the sound of Ed’s uniform trousers hitting the floor.

“Be more careful with your uniform, Fullmetal,” he snipped half-heartedly, folding his own trousers neatly. “We don’t exactly have an iron out here. If you have to meet General Armstrong with wrinkly trousers and she calls you out, it’s not on my head.”

“You finally convinced me to wear the damn thing, now don’t push your luck,” Ed shot back, which was pretty much exactly what he’d said every _other_ time Roy had asked him to treat the uniform with the respect it deserved. Roy was almost beginning to regret forcing Ed to wear it at all when he treated it with the exact level of disregard that he’d always treated his other clothes -- though at least now he typically got shot up quite a bit less. Perks of sticking closer to the office, Roy supposed; typically, the less fieldwork one did, the fewer new uniforms one had to request from the quartermaster.

Then again, the less fieldwork _Ed_ did, the more bitching everyone else in the office had to put up with about _how fucking bored he was, God, Mustang, what good am I doing sitting on the bench?_ So, pros and cons to everything.

Dressed for bed, Roy took a deep, centering breath before turning around to face his fate. Sure enough, there was Edward, shivering ever-so-slightly in a thin cotton nightshirt and mismatched sleep trousers that, based on their make, must have been a gift from Alphonse (as they’d aged, it had become _quite_ clear which of the brothers had anything approaching taste, including when it came to fashion). He’d let his hair down, and it fell well past his shoulders, almost glowing in the distant light of the fireplace. Roy swallowed. This whole bed-sharing thing was probably going to turn out to be a mistake, but, well -- what choice did they have?

“What are _you_ looking at?” Ed said mulishly, but Roy couldn’t help but notice a touch of color high on his cheekbones. All of a sudden he was very glad he’d made the decision to pack his nice wool pajamas, and he couldn’t quite explain why.

“It’s late. We should both try to sleep,” he muttered instead of answering, and Ed huffed, but he also tore back the covers on one side of the bed and threw himself down with enough force to make the bedframe groan worryingly, so Roy chalked it up as a win. A narrow win, maybe, but a win.

Roy concentrated very intently on _not_ looking at Ed as he somewhat more gently got into bed. He was being ridiculous, he knew; this was just for one night, and it wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as he was making it out to be. But there was a part of him, not nearly as deeply hidden as he would have liked, that positively reveled in the way he could feel Ed’s body as a brand of flame in the bed next to him, in sharp contrast with the chill of the automail. He pulled the covers more tightly around himself and breathed in through his nose.

“Don’t be a blanket hog,” Ed muttered, tugging back on the other side of the blanket, but like magic, as soon as he’d gotten into bed his eyelids had started to droop, and his voice was just the tiniest bit slurred. It was nowhere near what it had been when he was a teenager sleeping for two, but Ed _had_ , apparently, retained the ability to sleep anywhere, on command. In the chill air of the cabin, with the wind howling outside, Roy was envious.

The fact that, weather notwithstanding, it was Ed beside him that was making it hard to even think about settling down for the night was quite beside the point. Goddamit, Roy couldn’t hold off looking forever; Ed’s eyes were glazed over slightly, he had the blankets pulled up to his chin, and his hair was falling haphazardly on the bed and his pillow. The fire cast deep shadows and lit him softly in a way that was absolutely uncalled for.

Roy rolled over with what was possibly an undeserved amount of force.

There was a long enough beat of silence that he started to think Ed had already fallen asleep, but then a rough, quiet voice asked, “What, ‘m I that ugly?” 

Oh dear God. Roy -- or that traitorous, not-buried-deep-enough part of him, anyway -- wanted to laugh. Thankfully, all he did was choke on air, which was at least marginally less embarrassing. Honestly, he should have known this whole trip was going to shoot his self control straight to shit. Sure, a long trip, alone, with his increasingly-impossible-to-ignore firebrand subordinate, the subject of his increasingly-impossible-to-ignore and entirely inappropriate workplace infatuation, in a region where there was a depressingly high probability that at some point they would end up relying on sharing body heat. That had been a _wonderful_ idea. Maybe he should have just let Bradley kill him all those years ago.

Ed, meanwhile, was blithely continuing on, thankfully unaware of the way Roy’s face, turned away from him, was slowly turning purple. “Mean, I know I’m not who you probably want in your bed, but geeze, I didn’t think --”

“I beg to differ,” Roy mumbled under his breath, and only when Ed went deathly silent did his higher brain function think to inform him that, as close as they were, ‘under his breath’ was still distinctly audible.

Shutting Edward Elric up, as Roy well knew, was a considerable achievement, but for several immeasurably long seconds, everything was still, and the only sound was the hiss and howl of the wind outside.

Roy needed to -- he _had_ to say something. If nothing else, he felt instantly, horrifically guilty; _God,_ what an awful thing to say to someone. To someone who _worked for him_ , no less, and while they were sharing a bed in the middle of nowhere with no way to leave. If Ed asked him to this time, he really _would_ go and sleep on the floor.

But just as he took a sharp breath in, opening his mouth to speak, a warm, calloused hand slid over his shoulder, and a much colder, much harder one came to rest at the nape of his neck. The movements were uncharacteristically shy, or even timid, to such a degree that Roy desperately wished he were turned around, so he could have absolute proof of who those hands were attached to. He let his breath out again, and Ed’s hands moved with him as his body shifted.

“We can talk about this in the morning,” Ed said quietly, sounding infinitely more awake. But there was something else different about his voice, too, something almost fond. Which, based on the sheer number of times he’d called Roy a bastard tonight _alone_ , couldn’t possibly be right, but there it was. Roy’s heart was beating so quickly that he didn’t feel altogether sure that he wasn’t dying.

But. Well. If he were dying, he highly doubted he’d still be able to feel the puffs of Ed’s breath against his neck, or watch the shadows from the fire flickering on the wall in front of him as he stared, wide-eyed. He wasn’t used to being taken this much by surprise, dammit. If it were anyone but Ed, he’d almost be irritated.

“In the morning,” he agreed, not altogether sure how he’d forced his mouth to move. The morning seemed far away; for now, there was only the cold air, the wind and snow blowing outside, and Ed. “Good night, Edward.”

“Goodnight, bastard.”

And it snowed all through the night.


End file.
